TAMPA, FLORIDA--Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal on Wednesday
refused to consider arguments from Terri Schiavo's parents over their belief
that allowing her to starve to death would violate her religious
convictions.

The appellate court did not offer a written opinion to explain the
refusal.

George Felos, the attorney representing Terri's husband and guardian,
Michael Schiavo, told reporters that once the court issues its formal decision
within 15 days, Mr. Schiavo could order his wife's feeding tube removed.

An attorney for Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, told LifeNews
they will ask the appeals court to rehear the case. David Gibbs III said the
court's decision not to hold hearings was disappointing. Because the appeals
court did not issue a written opinion, the decision cannot be appealed to the
state Supreme Court, LifeNews explained.

The Schindlers asked for the new trial to argue that, even if Terri had
said she did not want to be kept alive "by artificial means" as her husband
suggests, as a devout Catholic she would have changed her mind last year in
response to a pronouncement by Pope John Paul II. The pope said in March that
removing food and hydration from people with disabilities similar to Terri's
amounts to a form of "euthanasia by omission" and is immoral and unethical.

Terri collapsed from a heart attack in February 1990 and her brain was
without oxygen for several minutes. She breathes on her own and regulates her
own blood pressure. But because she does not swallow, she receives food and
water through a tube installed through the wall of her stomach.

Terri, who was 26 at the time of her injury left no written directives.
Her husband has insisted for several years that his wife told him before her
collapse that she would not want to be on life support. In February 2000,
Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge Greer ruled that Mr. Schiavo could have his
wife's feeding tube removed. Greer agreed with Schiavo and several doctors that
Terri is in a "persistent vegetative state" -- that her brain is damaged the
point where she cannot interact with her environment, does not feel pain, and
will not recover.

Terri's parents have fought Mr. Schiavo through the courts for the past
11 years for their daughter to receive rehabilitative therapies, including
speech and swallowing therapies, and to keep her alive. They argue that Terri
responds to them, smiles, and has even tried to stand up.

In late October 2004, Judge Greer said that nothing had changed since
his 2000 decision. He noted that, Terri had not been a consistent observer of
Catholic Mass and did not have a regular religious advisor. Greer did issue a
stay, however, allowing Terri to continue receiving food and water through the
tube until her parents' appeals have been exhausted.

The Schindlers have tried to get Mr. Schiavo removed as Terri's legal
guardian, pointing to the fact that he spent much of a fund intended for her
care and rehabilitation on his fight to have her die, and that for the last
eight years he has been engaged to another woman with whom he has fathered two
children.

In October of 2003, when Terri's feeding tube was removed under Greer's
court order, disability rights advocates and right-to-die groups flooded the
offices of Governor Jeb Bush and state lawmakers with messages asking for them
to intervene and save Terri's life. Bush's office quickly wrote "Terri's Law"
and pushed it through the Legislature in near-record time, leading to the
reinsertion of Terri's feeding tube just six days after it had been
removed.

The Florida Supreme Court later threw out the law, ruling that the
governor and the Legislature overstepped their constitutional bounds in passing
and implementing it.

Attorneys for Gov. Bush asked the U.S. Supreme Court on December 1 to
decide whether the Florida Supreme Court violated Terri Schiavo's federal
rights when it overturned the law that had kept her alive for over a year.